Liars and Saints

 Truman Capote was a monster; after "In Cold Blood," he wrote a bitchy story about a friend, and the friend killed herself. His remarks on Marlon Brando were so scathing, they led Brando to retreat from the spotlight (temporarily). Capote gave little (if any) credit to Harper Lee, though Lee clearly did heavy lifting on the Clutter story. Capote claimed to have a deep interest in the Clutters, but he didn't really write much about them, and he felt free to invent lies. (Living Clutter relatives are still indignant to this day.) The bulk of "In Cold Blood" is a love letter to a murderer, Perry Smith, and the lies are rampant here, as well. Smith was not a deep soul; he was a killer. He did not apologize to his victims. He did not offer a concise explanation of his motives. (Capote would have you think otherwise.) A recent study of "In Cold Blood" suggests a motive that Capote himself overlooked. Perry Smith and Richard Hickock were obviously lovers; Cap...

 Somewhere around the 1950s, a young woman fought her way out of obscurity; she changed her name, her style, and her manner of speaking; she studied Joan Crawford; she studied Joan Crawford's movies. She married a wealthy, closeted man, and she took charge of a mansion in Long Island. The woman--Ann Woodward--didn't really fit in. Her outfits were too revealing, and she didn't have an acceptable past to talk about; she lied about her father (she said he was dead when he wasn't). Ann's husband grew bored with her, and he threatened a divorce; he could point to Ann's lies as a reason for ending the union. And Ann took out a shotgun and murdered Mr. Woodward. She claimed she had thought he was a prowler, but the claim seemed sketchy. After all, Mr. Woodward was emerging from the shower, and he wasn't wearing any clothing, when his wife slaughtered him. This material seemed riveting to Truman Capote, who knew what it was like to be an outsider. Capote invented h...